Blue Krew Rolls Behind Waves Through Playoff Run

If you've been one of the many who have seen the girls' basketball team play during its , there's no doubt you've seen them – or heard them.

Painted in blue, with players' numbers painted on their chests and hands clapsed to their mouths to shield their soundwaves to the basketball court, a cast of five to 15 Blue Wave fans have rallied to every game throughout the playoff run wearing the blue and white.

Brought to you by many of the same students who brought Riverhead ', the Blue Krew has been loud, proud, and still unafraid to make their points of view known, even grabbing the #BlueKrew hashtag on Twitter to get the word out electronically.

"We've gone when we've had the time, and we just try to have a good time," said senior Tim Clement, who likened the bunch to Duke's Cameron Crazies.

The group first attended coach Dave Spinella's 100th win against North Babylon, and has been going since. The rest of the Blue Wave faithful has also increased in numbers as the season has developed, topping out at against Baldwin.

Players on the girls' team responded via twitter on Friday to say how the support, from the Krew and beyond, has affected them.

"Knowing we have such a great community supporting behind us feels great," said Melodee Riley, who has averaged over 18 points per game in the playoffs. As support in the stands has grown, she said, "the games feel just the same but the crowd behind us makes it feel more exciting and pumps us up more."

"It motivates us and gets us pumped up for all our games. I love it," said Marta Czaplak.

Kaila Nazario that the experience as a whole has brought the team closer. "We grew a lot since last year. We all get along so well. We are a family."

While the krew admits that in defending the Blue Waves it can get personal with opponents from time to time, drawing ire from the other side of the court, nobody has been lifted from a game. And as playoffs get deeper and deeper, security is known to get tighter and tighter with unruly fans, said high school principal David Wicks.

"They respect the rules of Section XI," said Wicks. "Those guys are great, and they represent the school well. Having them there has been good."

Because most are athletes themselves – not to mention the 500-mile round trip up to Troy – the krew will be light in attendance at Friday's game, if anyone makes it at all. But should the Blue Waves pull off a victory against Penfield, Saturday's schedule is clear.

"If they win we'll be up on Saturday," said senior Jordan Fulcoly.